Gujarat airport dreams yet to take off

The official publicity material printed by the Gujarat government on the Global Investors' Summit proudly says Gujrat has nine airports, the highest number in the country.

But the truth is far from this. Among the nine airports, only four are really functioning, except the Bhuj airport which is mostly used by the Air Force.

The rest are not open for regular flights and they lack proper infrastructure, while the condition of the two major airports, Ahmedabad and Vadodara, leave much to be desired.

The Kandla airport, one of the oldest in the country, has been lying unused for years and no one knows when the last aircraft took off from the runway here.

The city has a place in the list of the top five in the state in terms of industrial and economic activities.

Kandla has the country's second-largest port and there is also the private port being run by the Adani Group.

Hundreds visit the city which also has a special economic zone.

"Besides, Kandla and its adjoining areas produce huge amounts of salt and then comes other medium- and small-size industries including a modern mobile handset plant recently started by Reliance Infocomm in the city suburb. The unused airport occupies a large tract of land, but the government has not taken any initiative to make the airport operational," said Vikas Patel, an industrialist based in Gandhidham, the neighbourhood of Kandla.

Patel, who has many business contacts in Mumbai, has to travel to Ahmedabad, around 300 kms by road, to catch a Mumbai flight.

"Or else I have to travel to Rajkot, which is again around 200 kms, or to Bhuj. But from these places, there is only a single flight a day. It is really pathetic that though Kandla contributes a lot to the state's economy, it lacks an airport," Patel said.

Cattle graze in the airport land and part of the airfield, the local residents say, is sometimes used to play cricket.

The condition of the Keshodh Airport in Junagadh district is also bad.

Neither Jet Airways nor Indian Airlines has any flights from here. The airport is being used for landing of VVIP helicopters and private choppers.

Foreign and domestic tourists visiting the nearby famous Gir forest, the only abode of the Asiatic Lion, have to travel by road either from Rajkot or Ahmedabad.

"An airport here could have attracted tourists from abroad in large numbers as they would have preferred to take a flight from Mumbai or Delhi directly to Keshodh to reach Gir. We requested the previous state government to seek central assistance in developing the airport, but nothing has happened yet," said a state tourism department official.

Surat is the hub of the gem and jewellery industry that records a turnover of Rs 45,000 crore a year. The city also does not have an airport though there is a stretch of protected land.

The state and central governments are yet to decide on whom is the responsibility of making this airport operational.

Jet Airways operates a flight to Mumbai every day from Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Bhuj airports.